Getting white streaks with my laser printer

[OzzieGT]

So I refilled the toner on my Lexmark E238 printer. I am getting some white vertical streaks (lengthwise on the page). I shook the cartridge pretty vigorously a couple times and it didn't help. I read somewhere that cleaning the printer mirror and the wire can help, but I have no idea how to find thse two components. Can anyone help out?

 

[Ken90630]

I used to be a copier/fax machine tech in a previous career, and laser printers are very similar, so a few thoughts:

1) Did you use the right toner? I can't tell you how many customers I've seen who just put any old toner in their machines and screwed things up. With dry toner, the chemical composition varies widely and you have to use the exact toner specified for the model of machine you have.

2) A "printer mirror" would be part of what's known as a machine's "optics," and optics are typically not easily accessible to end users. But it depends on the machine. This is not likely your problem, however, if the machine was printing good images before you changed the toner (unless you spilled some inside the machine and it got blown around or something).

3) The "wire" you referred to is commonly known as a "charge" or "corona" wire, and yes, a dirty wire can definitely cause white streaks on your pages. Where it is on your machine depends -- it could be on the imaging cartridge itself, likely somewhere near the drum. Check your owner's manual (or find the PDF manual on Lexmark's Web site if they offer it). If the wire is cleanable by the end user, the manual should tell you how. Usually it involves sliding a small plastic clip, that has a felt pad attached to it, back & forth along a track. The felt pad presses up against the wire, cleaning it from end to end. If you can't find a manual, see if you see a small clip like, like I'm describing, on the imaging/drum cartridge somewhere. They're often on the underside and are typically a bright color like lime green or yellow or something.

Good luck.

 

[eplebnista]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
I used to be a copier/fax machine tech in a previous career, and laser printers are very similar, so a few thoughts:

1) Did you use the right toner? I can't tell you how many customers I've seen who just put any old toner in their machines and screwed things up. With dry toner, the chemical composition varies widely and you have to use the exact toner specified for the model of machine you have.

2) A "printer mirror" would be part of what's known as a machine's "optics," and optics are typically not easily accessible to end users. But it depends on the machine. This is not likely your problem, however, if the machine was printing good images before you changed the toner (unless you spilled some inside the machine and it got blown around or something).

3) The "wire" you referred to is commonly known as a "charge" or "corona" wire, and yes, a dirty wire can definitely cause white streaks on your pages. Where it is on your machine depends -- it could be on the imaging cartridge itself, likely somewhere near the drum. Check your owner's manual (or find the PDF manual on Lexmark's Web site if they offer it). If the wire is cleanable by the end user, the manual should tell you how. Usually it involves sliding a small plastic clip, that has a felt pad attached to it, back & forth along a track. The felt pad presses up against the wire, cleaning it from end to end. If you can't find a manual, see if you see a small clip like, like I'm describing, on the imaging/drum cartridge somewhere. They're often on the underside and are typically a bright color like lime green or yellow or something.

Good luck.

Excellent info! :thumbsup:

 

[Zepper]

That is a common problem and us usually covered in the troubleshooting section of your manual and/or on the website under the FAQ or Troubleshooting sections.

.bh.